A Bermuda court had some months ago ordered that same-sex couples could get married on the island, but the legislature has overruled them to instead create domestic partnership status for same-sex unions.

The British government, while it holds veto power over all decisions made by the Bermudan legislature and government, has declined to intervene in what it views as a purely domestic matter for the self-governing island.

Same-sex couples who legally married in the time between the court decision and the passage of this law will remain so.

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Quote from: Jordan Duram

It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?

I actually agree with the UK's decision not to intervene (though not with the Bermudan legislature's decision). It would undermine the principle of domestic self-governance that the UK extends to its overseas possessions for the UK Parliament to overrule the local government.

There are cases where I think the intervention would be appropriate (for instance, if Bermuda moved to criminalize gay sex again--it was legalized in 1994, but the age of consent for male homosexual relationships is higher than that for heterosexual relationships or female homosexual relationships; as near as I can tell lesbian sex was never illegal, because of course), but this isn't one of them.

Logged

Quote from: Jordan Duram

It doesn't concern you, Sister, that kind of absolutist view of the universe? Right and wrong determined solely by a single all-knowing, all powerful being whose judgment cannot be questioned and in whose name the most horrendous acts can be sanctioned without appeal?